I have been following the Republican primary quite closely and have seen it descend into stupidity because of the rantings of Donald Trump. Initially I thought he was a breath of fresh air for the Republican Party, but now he’s nothing but a buffoon. He has no plan other than Make America Great Again. If you support this guy because of that, you probably fell for Hope and Change too. A meaningless platitude that sounds good but accomplishes nothing.

I thought Donald Trump’s hit video on Hillary Clinton was brilliant. You can watch it here.

I thought I would make a video of my own… enjoy.

I got a response on the video a minute after it was posted. The guy who posted it, removed it, but it was sent to me by email. Those Trump supporters… classy folks.

It has been a long road back to getting on the road with my bike. Last July 31st I took a pretty severe fall and broke my collarbone. The soft tissue damage was the worst of it… it had me sleeping in a recliner for 6 weeks. Very painful. I am currently doing physio to try to regain full motion in my left shoulder. So far I have been X-rayed 4 times while seeing an orthopedic surgeon. I think it’s interesting to see how bone heals… and how long it takes.

By the way, the weather is beautiful today in Calgary. I’m going for a ride… to my physiotherapist.

July 31st- day 1

September 9th

November 4th

January 27th

*Summer/Winter

A few years back I took, what I consider, a terrific photo of Two Jack Lake near Banff. The view of Rundle Mountain almost perfectly mirrored in the lake is stunning. I just happened to be riding by at 7am on a cool May morning and snapped the photo on my $100 point and click Sony camera..

The other day I was back at the same spot and tried to match my photo exactly. This time in winter.

Today on Deep Cuts & Lost Classics… May it be over… sooner before later.

Trudeau’s government was between a rock and a hard place with pipelines. His radical environmental supporters wanted no pipelines… no oil. Canada (Alberta) needs pipelines to get product to market. These new guidelines will effectively end pipelines in Canada as courts get jammed with endless lawsuits to keep pipelines from being built because of the environment. Meanwhile Trudeau now has cover and doesn’t need to make any decision… because, uh, uh, uh… the environment.

Moving forward, the environment ministry will analyze greenhouse gas emissions that would result from approving pipeline projects. The results from that study would then be presented to cabinet, which will make the final decision on whether to approve a project.

The only way pipelines don’t have greenhouse gas emissions is if the oil in them doesn’t get used.

Last weekend, he was told by hotel management that he’d have to pack up and leave again — the same week the federal government is putting up hundreds of newly landed Syrian refugees in the Plaza. Fulton isn’t the only long-term hotel tenant being evicted; there are several others, he said.

Fulton said he was initially told he and his family had to leave by Friday, but he’s pushing Plaza staff to let him stay until Monday at least. Fulton pays $1,200 a month for his hotel room. His biggest worry now is having “no food, no shelter, no nothing,” he said.

School dress codes should be revisited to ensure they don’t imply skirts can be worn only by females. Gender-segregated activities, including sports teams, should ensure students who are gender-diverse have the right to participate in activities congruent with their gender identity. Students should also be able to choose which washroom to use.

*The End Of Snow

The snowpack, which the state counts on to melt in the spring to fill reservoirs and streams, hit normal levels for the first time in three years last month and has held fast throughout January, according to electronic measurements by the California Department of Water Resources.

…

The water content of snow in the mountains was 113 percent of normal statewide on Wednesday. Wetter weather in the northern mountains left the snowpack there at 125 percent of normal, whereas in the drier southern part of the state it was at 96 percent.

Meanwhile, the rise of the mayors isn’t some chance occurrence. It is part of a strategy embodied in the notion of “subsidiarity,” the seemingly sensible notion that problems should be addressed at the lowest appropriate level. Environmental subsidiarity’s real meaning — and dangers — are more easily understood if you translate the closely related nostrum “Think globally, act locally” as “Plot globally, agitate locally.”

The essence of Agenda 21, the late Maurice Strong’s wish list for a sustainable world, concocted at the 1992 UN conference in Rio, is control of society at every level. Its agents are environmental NGOs — of the sort that have brought the pipeline review process to a halt — and municipalities.

Timing is everything and right now the Alberta NDP’s timing sucks. Low oil prices are killing them at a time when they want to implement their left wing agenda. Higher taxes and royalty rates, carbon taxes and minimum wage hikes, massive borrowing and spending will not help right now, but that’s what they propose. Oil prices are so fluid (pardon the pun) budgeting means nothing… you can read more on that here.

Experts agree that oil prices will rebound, but what about the timing? What do you want to bet oil prices rise just in time to give the NDP what they need to take credit for a newly booming economy? Just in time to run in the next election.

Meanwhile, we have an idiot PM who thinks happy thoughts will run the economy.

The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s relentless destruction of ancient cultural sites.

For 1,400 years the compound survived assaults by nature and man, standing as a place of worship recently for U.S. troops. In earlier centuries, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches and prayed in the cool chapel. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ’s name, were carved near the entrance.

Now satellite photos obtained exclusively by The Associated Press confirm the worst fears of church authorities and preservationists — St. Elijah’s Monastery of Mosul has been completely wiped out.

*Affirmative Oscars

Prediction: This years Oscars will have big ratings. Not for the show, but for the race hustlers… including the host.

It should never be the case that there must be a film representing people of colour no matter what. In an ideal world, yes, of course, art should reflect our society. This happened with the brilliant 12 Years A Slave — which won three Oscars.

What we certainly don’t want is well-meaning tokenism — the sort of attitude: ‘Oh, look, there are some black dudes in a half-decent movie, let’s nominate them for an Academy Award.’ That’s patronising and utterly offensive.

Today on Deep Cuts & Lost Classics… the following song is filthy. I mean… really filthy. If you don’t want to hear filth, do not play the following song. You have been warned.

That said… I love this song. I have since a friend of mine (Mike Johnson) played it for me more than 30 years ago. Mike died in a car accident back in the late 80’s. He was a good friend.

Did I mention this song is filthy?

I’m not sure why the album name and artist aren’t displaying. This is Marianne Faithful from Broken English.

Canada has been knocked down a few pegs on the world stage because we don’t support the war on ISIS. A group of world defense ministers are meeting in Paris to discuss the barbarity that is Islamic terrorism and we haven’t been invited. According to our defense minister it’s no big deal, blah, blah, blah. Besides… Trudeau sits with people in mosques after Christians have been slaughtered in Burkina Faso… all is well.

So what is this all about? I think it’s about the UN. The rest of the world’s defense ministers be damned, what’s really important is the political points we can make with the limp, neutered, impotent United Nations. ISIS is small potatoes in Liberal wonderland… the UN, that’s the ticket. Being soft on an Islamic terrorist group is playing to the base. What’s really important is kissing the ass of a bloated bureaucratic organization. Think of the political points we can make if we can get back on the security council. The media will love us and will have another opportunity to praise Trudeau and bash Harper. You see, he got us kicked off that limp, neutered, impotent security council… Harper is evil.

Keep your eyes on the prize folks. Any organization that would have Saudi Arabia lead it’s human rights council would surely welcome Canada back into the fold of its security council. Even if it does deny the world’s greatest threat… and probably because it does.

Bowie and now Glenn Frey. What does the rest of the year have in store for us?

Glenn Frey was one of those rare musicians in a rare group. A true craftsman of popular music. His body of work speaks for itself. The world is diminished by his passing, but is blessed with his musical memories. RIP.

(The following contains significant spoilers of Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Last night I went to see the latest Star Wars movie and I would like to thank everyone I talked too about it for not revealing to me that it was a remake of Episode IV: A New Hope. It is quite amazing that this tidbit never slipped out once in all the times the movie has been mentioned in the media.

I thought it would be interesting to do a comparison of the two films. To make things easier I will refer to The Force Awakens as TFA from now on… A New Hope will be referred to as ANH.

Let’s compare:

ANH- the heroes are tasked with getting a droid carrying battle plans of the Death Star, taken from the Empire, to Obi-Wan Kenobi. One of the heroes is Luke Skywalker… the plans are put into the droid by Princess Leia.

TFA- the heroes are tasked with getting a droid carrying a map to Luke Skywalker to Admiral Leia.

ANH- Obi-Wan Kenobi is a recluse who had one of his apprentices turn to the dark side of the force.

TFA- Luke Skywalker is a recluse who had one of his apprentices turn to the dark side of the force.

ANH- Kenobi’s apprentice is Darth Vader… Luke’s father.

TFA- Skywalker’s apprentice is Kylo Ren… Han Solo and Leia’s son.

ANH- Han Solo is a smuggler with conflicting feelings about helping the Rebellion. He ends up getting involved in a fight he never wanted and ends up being a hero.

TFA- Finn is a stormtrooper with conflicting feelings about helping the Resistance. He ends up getting involved in a fight he never wanted and ends up being a hero.

ANH- Luke Skywalker is a disillusioned young man who wants to get off a farm for greater glory. He is strong with the force and ends up defeating the main villain (Darth Vader), but lets him get away.

TFA- Rey is a disillusioned young woman pining for the return of her family. She is strong with the force and ends up defeating the main villain (Kylo Ren), but lets him get away.

ANH- Obi-wan helps the young heroes deliver the droid, but ends up getting killed by the main villain.

TFA- Han Solo helps the young heroes deliver the droid, but ends up getting killed by the main villain.

ANH- overseeing those strong with the dark side and pulling all the strings is the evil Emperor.

TFA- overseeing those strong with the dark side and pulling all the strings is the evil Supreme Leader.

ANH- the heroes destroy the Empire by blowing up The Death Star.

TFA- the heroes destroy The First Order by blowing up the death planet.

I think that’s it. If you have any other similarities… let me know.

I thank George Lucas for writing The Force Awakens and await his plagiarism lawsuit.

By the way, I enjoyed The Force Awakens and will go to the next episode, but don’t try to tell me what I saw last night was a new movie.

I was shocked this morning to hear of the death of David Bowie. I always think these legends will be around forever… and in a way they will be in their music. I like a lot of Bowie’s music, but was never a die hard fan. I know of his immense effect on music and pop culture. A true trailblazer.

At the risk of sounding like an old man… they do not make music and characters like Bowie anymore. Don’t tell me Lady Gaga is in the same league… she doesn’t exist without David Bowie. Madonna’s changing persona’s of the 80’s were a direct result of David Bowie. He was/is an icon.

I don’t know whether you’ve been following the story about Germany’s New Years Eve fondle fest, it has been a little hard to get the goods on this disgusting display. The essence of the story… hundreds of women were sexually abused (some raped) by groups of “southern or Arab appearance” men. This happened all over Germany.

This story has seen the light of day because of new media. It has been all but been ignored (covered up) by big media… that is until new media shed some light on the issue.

The perpetrators — as many as 1,000 men, described as drunk and aggressive, reportedly of Arab or North African descent — obviously didn’t worry about being seen, nor did they seem to care about repercussions (to say nothing of their regard for their victims as actual people). At the time of writing, Cologne police have received 121 formal complaints, most of which were of sexual assault but also two alleged rapes, though no arrests have yet been reported. And perhaps worst of all, there was a peculiar plague of silence from German police, politicians and even some media organizations until days after the incident.

My own politically incorrect opinion on mass migration from the Middle East? The left hauls out the word neo-con when western countries try to impose democracy in countries that lie in the realm of the Arab and Muslim world. They state we can’t impose democracy where it isn’t wanted. Then why are we importing tens of thousands of these people? Do you really think we can impose our values on them here?

The weather has been cold here in Calgary this winter. Well, colder than usual. We usually get a cold spell, but I have a feeling the warm weather from last year at this time will miss us this year.

*Memetastic

We live in a different world from when BJ Clinton was President. The phrase ‘rape culture’ didn’t exist back then and there wasn’t a high profile Bill Cosby case to shed light on habitual sexual abuse. Whether the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and rape will follow Bill and his complicit wife remains to be seen. The left never throws their own under the bus, so I think this one will blow over.

I understand the picture below is from a European parade. The right thinks Bill Clinton is sexual predator… the left says “way to go Bill”.

Today on Deep Cuts & Lost Classics… Here’s one you probably haven’t heard. It doesn’t get any airplay. From 1984 off of the album ‘About Face’… David Gilmour. I saw him on this tour at Massey Hall in Toronto. Great show.

Barack Obama is clamping down on guns in the USA… or so he says. His rhetoric and crocodile tears would have you believe only federal legislation and executive orders can save lives from gun deaths in America. It really isn’t that simple. Daily shootings in Chicago, which has strict gun laws, and the mass killings in California are two examples of how the President’s logic is wrong… No, let me change that… his liberalism is wrong.

“It isn’t that liberals are ignorant, it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” • Ronald Reagan

I suppose, like the global warming issue, we can now say that this “problem” is over because politicians have intervened. Actually, no. Like everything with progressives… it’s only one of numerous steps.

I took a short break from the everyday grumblings of life, but I promise I will be back with more observations in the new year. I just wanted to enjoy the holidays and not have to worry about taxes and government and stupidity in the world.

I hope you had a good Christmas and I wish you a Happy New Year.

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